Black Friday A Mixed Bag For Retail Sector

Black Friday sales were a mixed bag for retailers, according to Retail NZ.

Reflecting spend data for the weekend released today by Worldline, retailers have reported mixed results for the sales period. Worldline has reported that sales through Core Retail merchants (excluding Hospitality and Food/Liquor retailers) totalled $175.6m over the Friday-Sunday period, similar to levels seen during the Black Friday period of 2023.

“Some Retail NZ members have told us that their Black Friday weekend sales were slightly better than last year, while others have said they were not as good,” says Ann-Marie Johnson, Manager, Advocacy, Advice & Communications for Retail NZ.

“Retailers have also told us that customers were generally spending less on each transaction.”

Worldline’s data showed that the number of transactions was up 2.8% on last year but the value per transaction was down 2.8% to $83.50.

“Overall, it does appear that customers were waiting for the sales to get underway, before they started their Christmas shopping,” Ms Johnson says.

“Strong pre-Christmas sales are critical to retailers meeting their annual sales targets. A turnaround in consumer confidence can’t come soon enough so we’re hoping last week’s OCR cut will help boost New Zealanders’ willingness to support local retail businesses.”

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